I had all the parts ready tonight.......the front coil springs came out with little effort. I put the compressors on em, tightened em a bit and pried them out with a pry bar...no problemo.....


Putting them back in is a totally different story. NEVER in my 20 years of turning wrenches have I had such a problem......I had to drop the A arm, put a jack under the arm, up, in, up, out, sledge to position, out, in,up, take it all out again, do it all over again, FINALLY I got lucky and alligned everything again. There isnt enough room to compress the springs with my compression tool...I, uh, this had me totally stumped. Im afraid to do the other side.....


Is there a better way to do this?

 

what I did, years ago on an old impala and be carefull if you try this, is wrap a BUNCH of bailing wire around the top to bottom of the coil, all sides so it dont decompress sideways,to kinda hold it compressed. make sure its VERY tight, and it was still difficult to get in. but like I said be carefull cause if the wire breaks it will bounce VERY hard.

 

The Z28 springs are very stiff springs. But I have only used the compressor tool on springs once or twice. It took too much time. I just undo the spindle or ball joint, with a jack under the control arm the whole time, and let the arm all the way down and pop the spring out witha long pry bar. Then just install in reverse.

 

Yeah, thats about what I did, only it took all night. I get to do the other side tonight. Thats the side thats up against the wall of the garage so Ill have even less room. Oh joy!

It is interesting to note that the new springs are about an inch longer than the old ones. The one I removed also has a definate 'curve' in it as it sits unloaded. Pretty sure the old ones are whooped.....

 

I struggled with mine several years ago when I did my c/a bushings. I don't suggest you do this because it's dangerous but I got so pissed off. I lightly greased the lower c/arm,thenwhacked the base of the coil spring in with a 5lb sledge hammer. I did wrap a cable around the spring so it wouldn't hit back.

 

You car is gonna sit a little higher but after a few miles it will settle down some. But yeah I think being curved they are whooped.

 

Not only curved but a bit less than one inch shorter than the new ones. Im gonna tackle the other side today. Wish me luck.....

 

ya my car sat weird for awhile when i replaced the springs not to mention yes it was a pain in the ***,but still dosent compare to replacing the engine mounts in my car.

 

haha thats about what i did. only minus the jack. when i went to pull out my k-member i just undid the top strut bolt or nut. without thinking i just took it off and WHAM!! after returning from my house to change my pants i remembered " oh yea, theres a lot of pressure there.." the other side went much better... haha

 

You know whats fun to do is when you have the stiff Z28 springs and no motor installed is put the from suspension together without the use of a compressor. My younger bro and I did this on my 84 as I was swapping shells. We both were hanging on the car trying desperatly to get enough of a thread through to start the nut onto the strut.